1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a cleaning apparatus. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a cleaning apparatus for the interior of a vessel. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for cleaning the interior of an aircraft fuel tank.
2. Background
Manufacturing aircraft components may produce undesirable byproducts. For example, when drilling, welding, riveting, or performing other types of manufacturing processes to create an aircraft fuel tank, undesirable conditions such as dust, debris, or other material may be created within the interior. Before deploying the aircraft for use, it may be desirable to remove the dust, debris, or other undesirable material from the fuel tank.
Currently, an operator may work inside the confined spaces of an aircraft fuel tank to remove any undesirable material. Cleaning an aircraft fuel tank may be an undesirable task due to the confined space. Further, an operator may don protective equipment to clean an aircraft fuel tank. The protective equipment may limit visibility. Due to limited visibility, operators may incur bodily injury due to bumping into structures internal to an aircraft fuel tank such as brackets, stringers, pipes, or other structures. Yet further, an operator may have to contort his body into undesirable positions to apply detergents, to scrub, and to rinse hard to reach areas.
In some situations, an operator may inadvertently apply too much pressure and reduce the quality of an aircraft fuel tank. Reworking the interior of an aircraft fuel tank may be unplanned and undesirably time consuming.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues. For example, it may be desirable to have a method and apparatus to allow for automatically cleaning an aircraft fuel tank. As another example, it may be desirable to have a method and apparatus to allow for cleaning an aircraft fuel tank without reducing the quality of the fuel tank.